Legacy of the Void Fleet

Clenching his fist, Mav felt that even his physical body had achieved a significant increase in strength compared to before. The fact that his physical body grew alongside every single evolution and qualitative leap his ship had taken to reach this level was something he still found hard to believe.

If he previously possessed enough individual strength to destroy a vast continent with his power alone, these few major and minor evolutions meant he could now potentially destroy an entire planet.

Furthermore, if his past personal cultivation at the 2nd Rank of the Integration Realm allowed him to hold his own against a being at the absolute peak of that same realm, his current state changed the dynamics entirely. Now, he could not only put up a fierce fight against an unrestricted, peak Integration Realm being, but he could even kill them with a concerted effort.

And that newfound power belonged strictly to his physical body—which was no longer where his true, ultimate strength lay.

His true, terrifying combat capability manifested only when he synchronized with his True Ship, the Lance of the Void. With his dreadnought bound to his soul, his presence completely exceeded the limitations of the Integration Realm. He crossed the cosmic threshold, stepping directly into the Genesis Supreme Realm—and not just at the starting baseline, but hitting the power metrics of a Level 2 Genesis Supreme Realm powerhouse.

In conventional galactic terms, this meant wielding the terrifying might of a Tier 6 entity. What made this feat absolutely absurd was that he was achieving Tier 6 combat parameters while piloting a True Ship that itself was still technically ranked within Tier 5, Level 2.

Note : The Void Fleet had managed a major breakthrough. After the Evolution Department officially came into being(evolving from imperial R&D), they shattered the stubborn universal roadblocks that had frozen their technological progression, finally forcing open the gateway to Tier 5 and changing the balance of power forever.

"With this much strength, I have full confidence in completing the task given by the imperial commander—and at a speed that is practically unheard of," Mav muttered, full of excitement.

He then opened up the comms and spoke directly to his two subordinates, Ritika and Ritik Singh. The brother and sister came from the same family, possessing almost matching talents. Both were High Admirals and his direct subordinates, each controlling a portion of his fleet’s total strength. (Note: A Grand Fleet was made up of three fleets combined, and each individual fleet had a strength and number of about 3,600 ships, just like any other standard fleet).

The figures of both High Admirals appeared within the command bridge of the Lance of the Void immediately after.

Both of them saluted as they appeared. "Grand Admiral," they said.

"At ease, both of you. No need to be this courteous when it’s just the three of us," Mav said, a small smile appearing on his face. He was close to both of them, after all; they had come from the same batch and had trained together for hundreds of years. He then looked at the beautiful, yet war-goddess-like Ritika and asked, "Ritika, is the supply of the fleet and those supply ships ready?" Mav Lark asked immediately.

"Yes, Grand Admiral Mav. They were already in place an hour ago, and I have inspected everything we might need; all of it is in place. And it is plenty—so much so that we could go on another expedition if we had to."

"Good," Mav nodded, hearing this. He was extremely pleased and relieved as well; no delays would be happening because of this, and they could leave right on time.

He then looked at Ritik and asked him, "How is every personnel in the fleet? Is every department in place? Is there anything that could delay us? If not, we should leave for our expedition in an hour."

Hearing this, Ritik replied extremely seriously, "Every single personnel across the fleet is in their place, with nothing happening that could delay us at all, Grand Admiral. In fact, we can depart almost immediately; we don’t even need to wait an hour."

"That is good," Mav nodded. "As for going early, let it be. We will leave at the exact time the imperial commander has designated for us." He then knocked his own head and asked seriously, "Ah, I almost forgot—what about the internal intelligence? Does the Void Shadow Intelligence Department have anything worth our attention?"

Ritika, controlling her laughter at his sudden forgetfulness, said, "No, Grand Admiral. All twenty-eight Tier-Two kingdoms, federations, clans, and families have nothing unusual going on within their territories. However, their projected strength is roughly twenty percent higher than what they have publicly revealed. That is just an average, too. Each of them has quite a few hidden fleets and armies that they have never disclosed."

"And not only that," she continued, "some empires have these secret armies act as pirates in their rivals’ kingdoms and federations, looting their merchants and gathering resources to increase their own strength. The funny thing is, while they do this to the other parties, those other parties are doing the exact same thing to them—yet none of them have any idea! It is just so hilarious," Ritika said, trying her best to control her laughter.

"Really?" Mav said, a hint of astonishment appearing on his face. He had not expected these people to have absolutely no idea that the exact same treatment they were dishing out to their rivals was being inflicted upon themselves. It had been going on for some time, yet they were completely clueless. What are their intelligence agencies even doing? Maybe they’re sleeping, he thought, before pushing the thought to the back of his mind, not caring about it at all.

"What about those three Tier-Three powers? Is something up with them?" he asked solemnly, feeling intuitively that something was amiss with these three powers. They were situated right around the border regions of the Star Empire and were extremely close to it—at least, to the Imperial Family of the Star Empire.

So much so, in fact, that these factions were quite literally vassals to the Imperial Family. One could even say these three empires were under the direct control of the Imperial Star Family, as the rulers of these three empires carried the bloodline of the Star Empire’s royalty. This was due to the many intermarriages that had happened between the four empires. (In this galaxy, inter-species and political marriages were not uncommon.)

"There is something up with their empires," Ritika added, her tone turning very serious. "We have noticed quite a few Tier-Three fleets that do not belong to those three empires. Yet, these fleets are hidden deep within the core regions of their Tier-Three factions. The Void Shadow Department has detected the presence of the controlling families of these Tier-Three powers frequently going to and coming from these deeply hidden fleets."

"Each fleet is a peak Tier-Three fleet, and some are even quasi-Tier Four," Ritika explained.

"Then the rumors are true. These Tier-Three factions are, in fact, directly related—or even direct subordinates by blood—to the Imperial Star Family," Mav stated with a thoughtful expression.

He then added, "Well, no worries. It doesn’t affect us much at all. Whether they have these fleets or not is not a matter of great concern for us."

"There will be no change to our initial plan. We will still move as intended," Mav said solemnly. "However, we do have to be a bit more cautious so as to not let the fish escape. Since they are out here, let us completely clean them up. At the very least, we will earn more merits than we otherwise would have."

"Yes, Grand Admiral," both Ritika and Ritik said almost at the same time.

"Go explain the plans to your direct subordinates and ensure no gaps appear in our attacking formation. Since we have too vast of an area to cover, speed is of the essence."

"Yes, Grand Admiral!" With that, they saluted and disappeared from the Lance of the Void’s command bridge. Reappearing aboard their own respective Super Star Destroyers, they began passing down the orders. Quickly enough, the 8th Fleet became a hive of activity.

"There will be no change to our initial plan. We will still move as intended," Mav said solemnly. "However, we do have to be a bit more cautious so as to not let the fish escape. Since they are out here, let us completely clean them up. At the very least, we will earn more merits than we otherwise would have."

"Yes, Grand Admiral," both Ritika and Ritik said almost at the same time.

"Go explain the plans to your direct subordinates and ensure no gaps appear in our attacking formation. Since we have too vast of an area to cover, speed is of the essence."

"Yes, Grand Admiral!" With that, they saluted and disappeared from the Lance of the Void’s command bridge. Reappearing aboard their own respective Super Star Destroyers, they began passing down the orders. Quickly enough, the 8th Fleet became a hive of activity.